Everything Isn't What It Seems
by xXMoonyeenXx
Summary: Emma has finally acknowledged her parents but that is only the beginning of the journey this dysfunctional family are about to embark on when searching for one of their own. Charming family moments as well as Hook, the search for Henry and some Regina and Rumplestiltskin for good measure.
1. Mom and Dad?

**This is just something I wanted to write after watching the season finale. I can't wait until September and I really want Emma to find Henry now haha.**

**There are some fluffy Emma/Snow moments in this chapter and future chapters but everyone loves that. However I have something coming up that I really wanted to write I just have to work it in.**

* * *

"So we are mom and dad now?" Mary Margaret asked her daughter as she joined her leaning against the side of the Jolly Roger, her arms resting on the top of the railing that ran around the entire ship.

"Shut up," Emma mumbled from beside her mother. She smiled softly as she looked at her to soften the blow of telling her to shut up.

"Well now, is that anyway to talk to your mother?" Mary Margaret smirked back raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"No mom," Emma replied and she watched the smile grow on the face of the woman stood next to her until it was as beautiful as the sunrise from an hour ago. "You have a beautiful smile," she said as she thought about all the smiles she could have had from her mother.

"Well it's because of you."

"Me? What did I do?"

Mary Margaret sighed heavily, reached over and took one of her daughters hands in her own she entwined their fingers and squeezed gently. She heard the sigh leave Emma's lips and thought about all that could have happened in her daughters life to make her think she needed walls so high and thick just to protect herself from those around her. Mary Margaret ran her thumb in circles over the pulse point in Emma's wrist thankful to feel it beating steadily underneath. They had come so close to losing each other that it had scared her, it had been her idea to save Regina by sending the trigger to another world and it had almost resulted in them all dying. The one good thing to come from it was the fact that Emma had finally acknowledged her parentage.

"You are just you Emma. You mean the world to me; all of them. When I thought we were going to die I was so sad, angry and sorry because I had talked you into saving Regina. I had convinced you it was the right thing to do and because of that I thought I would never get the chance to tell you how much I loved you."

"It was the right thing to do and you have told me that every day since the curse broke. Not necessarily in words but by your actions," Emma said when her mother opened her mouth to speak. "You have shown me everyday that you love me. When you jumped through Jefferson's hat to be with me, well...no-one has ever done anything so amazing for me." Emma choked slightly on the words as she said them, the emotions of the previous day were fast catching up to her and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to control herself.

"It's me who should be telling you how much I love you. In that mine when Regina said she couldn't contain it much longer it hit me. I would never get another chance to tell you I loved you, I would never get the chance to see my son grow up or spend time with my parents. When I called you and David what I did it was the only thing I could think of at the time to convey just how much I loved you.

"I'm sorry, even now I'm not very good with this kind of stuff," Emma swiped away the tears which had formed in her eyes with the hand which wasn't connected to her mothers. "My walls have been up so long that I find it hard to let anyone in."

"I have guessed that much," Mary Margaret sounded as choked as Emma did. Emma turned to look at her mom and found that she had tears falling down her face in a continuous stream that looked like it would never stop.

"Please don't cry. I don't want to make you cry, I want to make you feel anything but sad." She said emphatically.

"I'm not sad honey, I'm happy you are finally talking to me. This is all I have wanted for months, even after being in the Enchanted Forest you still wouldn't talk to me."

"Yeah about that, I'm really sorry. I never meant to pull away as much as I did it was just hard, I wanted to spend time with you but I felt weird thinking it or even saying it. Then there is the fact that everyone in town would look at us like we were a circus show whenever the three of us would be out together. I mean it is really weird having a father who is the same age as me and a mother who is a year younger." Emma smiled at her mom as she spoke, her blue eyes shining with mirth.

"Well if it helps technically I am 55 and your father is 56." Mary Margaret responded with a shrug and a chuckle.

"It doesn't because you look amazing for your ages," both women laughed at the words.

* * *

Unknown to both of them their interaction was being watched from three different angles.

Hook was watching the nuances of Emma's expressions as she talked with her mother. He found the fact that she despised him fascinating because he was used to women throwing themselves at him. She reminded him a lot of Milah, they both had a fiery spirit and a strong will which he couldn't break. He remembered the fight they had had about going back to the Enchanted Forest years after leaving so that she could see her son, the whole crew of the Jolly Roger had cowered from them both as they stood mere inches from each other screaming. He smiled ruefully and shook his head to dispel the thoughts of his dead love. "I love you Milah," he said quietly into the wind as he turned back to steering the ship to the godforsaken island.

Rumplestiltskin watched the interaction with fascination, he was amazed that after 28 years apart the two women stood on the opposite side of the ship had bonded. Even though her parents had sent her through a portal on her own Emma had forgiven them, something he couldn't fathom because his own son would never ever forgive him for breaking their deal. Hell he would never forgive himself for breaking that one deal. Now though he had to deal with the fact that he had lost his son to magic twice and this time he was almost definitely dead. He watched as the women stood with their hands linked clearly having a heartfelt mother daughter conversation, deep down he wished he could have a similar conversation with Bae. He would give up all his magic just to have his son stood in front of him once more. "I love you Bae," he said turning away from the two women to look out over the too blue sea as a tear slid down his face.

Charming was staring at Emma with so much affection that no-one would ever doubt that he loved his daughter. He still couldn't believe that she had called him dad. For 28 years that had been all he had ever wanted, even when he didn't know he had a daughter. He thought about everything he had wanted to teach her, she should have learnt to ride a horse, shoot a bow and arrow, use a sword. Dadda should have been her first word, well that or mamma he wasn't too bothered but she definitely should have been spoilt. He didn't know what had happened in her life but he did know that whatever it was had left her damaged and with walls so high that only a true prince could scale them. Watching the scene in front of him though he realised that it wasn't a prince that was ever going to scale them, it was her mother and she wasn't scaling the walls she was like a giant swiping them out of her way as if they were nothing. He wished more than anything that his daughter would open up to him the way she was her mother, they had reached a slightly awkward friendship that neither of them really understood. He had only really comforted her the once just after Neal had been shot and gone through the portal to save Emma, a fact that Charming would always be grateful for. He had made a note as he placed a gentle kiss to Emma's head that if Neal was alive he would find him for her, he wanted her to be happy and she obviously loved this person despite who his father was just as he and Snow had overlooked each others families. Even as he had comforted her on the stairs of their apartment he had wondered if Emma would rather it was her mother. She had not said anything just accepted the comfort he had provided. "I love you Emma," he said as he moved away from his wife and child and towards Hook not wanting to interrupt, and wanting to know where this damn island his grandson was on was.

* * *

Still ignorant to their watchers who had all turned to other things the two women continued their conversation.

"Thank you, I appreciate that." Mary Margaret said after a breath.

"Thank you for coming with me again." Emma all but mumbled. Mary Margaret using the hand still holding her daughters and pulled her in for a hug, she wrapped her arms around her daughter and ran one of her hands through her hair. She felt Emma's arms move and enclose tightly around her in the same way as when she had hugged her after the beanstalk incident in the Enchanted Forest. Neither woman was willing to break the contact so they just stood for a few minutes not talking just holding each other.

"I will always be with you sweetheart," Mary Margaret whispered breaking the spell they were both in.

"I know I don't say it enough but I love you mom," Emma returned a sob ripping through her body as she spoke.

"Emma, honey, what's wrong?" Mary Margaret asked as she pushed her daughter away from her dropping her hands to her side. Emma shook her head, unable to articulate why she had suddenly broke down. She assumed that the shock of the whole day had finally caught up with her and she found that all the emotions she had felt at some point had resurrected in one go. "Please talk to me, I'm really worried." As Mary Margaret said the words she watched her daughters eyes glaze over before rolling back in her head as she fell backwards.

"Charming!" Snow shouted at the top of her lungs as she moved forward to catch her daughter before her head hit the wood of the deck. Charming looked up from the map Hook was showing him in time to see his daughter fall and Snow catch her. He didn't think he just moved and the next thing he knew he was leaping down all four stairs and racing to his daughters side.

"Snow what happened?" He asked when he reached them, Snow was sat with Emma's head in her lap brushing her daughters blonde hair from her eyes.

"I don't know. We talked, then hugged and the next thing I know she's unconscious." Snow was obviously worried about her daughter her husband could see it in her eyes.

"That doesn't make sense, why would she just pass out?" Charming checks his daughters eyes as he speaks to his wife.

"I don't know," Snow was so worried that Charming reached over and placed a hand against her cheek and looked lovingly into her eyes.

"She will be okay, you caught her before she hit her head so it could just be that she hasn't slept in a couple of days and everything has caught up with her."

"Or it could be the magic she used down in the mine to help me." Regina said reasonably from behind Charming. He turned his head and watched her as she walked around and knelt down across from him and beside his daughter.

"What do you mean?" Snow asked trying to understand.

"That much magic it drained me, I would hate to think what it did to her." Regina reached out and placed a hand on Emma's head which was cold but covered in a layer of sweat. She pulled her hand away and wiped it on her trousers before continuing. "I'm surprised she didn't pass out sooner, it must have been the adrenaline of Henry going missing. Now everything has just caught up with her, she will be fine Mary Margaret she just needs to rest." The Queen looked up into her step daughters eyes and smiled softly. She wasn't too sure why she was being so nice, but she felt like she owed these people. Despite everything she had done to them they kept helping her time and again, if she could allay their worries concerning their daughters current state then maybe she could go back to hating them because life was simpler then.

"Thank you," the couple said together as Regina pushed up and walked away without a backwards glance.

"I'll take her below and let her sleep it off." Charming bent down and placed an arm underneath his daughters legs and head before lifting her off the deck. He straightened out and realised she weighed almost nothing which considering her diet was amazing. He walked with his daughter up the stairs and towards the entrance to the sleeping quarters past Hook who stared concernedly at Emma as he walked past.

"Is she okay?" He asked, his hook tapping the wheel out of anxiety.

"She will be, she just needs to rest." Mary Margaret explained as she came to him.

"Please put her in my quarters, straight down the last door to the left. It will be more comfortable than the crew quarters." Charming nodded that he had heard and proceeded down to the cabin as Snow stopped and stared at the captain. "What?" He asked after a moment.

"Nothing," Snow smirked as she walked away. She knew in that moment that Hook cared for her daughter she just wasn't too sure how she felt about it. Personally she had always imagined her daughter marrying a prince, but given that Emma was obviously in love with Neal (not a prince) she knew the pirate didn't stand a chance. She was not one to stand in the way of true love not after everything she and Charming had done to be together, so no matter who her daughter chose she would be happy so long as Emma was happy.


	2. Forgiveness

**This has actually been written for a long time and I do mean a long time, I just found that I wasn't happy with it and I couldn't work out why. I am still not 100% happy with it but I did work out that it was the Emma/Charming stuff that was proving difficult to write. **

**The next chapter will not take half as long to post.**

* * *

Emma woke up to find herself in an unknown room, but judging from the rocking she was still on board the Jolly Roger. She turned over on the bed and saw her mom slumped in a chair beside the bed, Emma carefully lifted herself up trying not to make too much noise. Unfortunately all her best intentions were for naught because as soon as she moved the bed creaked and Mary Margaret all but flew out of the chair.

"Oh Emma you scared me." She said as she moved towards the bed placing a hand over her heart.

"How long have I been out?" Emma asked planting a hand by her side while reaching with the other on to straighten out the pillows behind her back.

"Only a couple of hours, Regina thinks the magic you two used down in the mine caught up with you."

"That's reasonable. Wait Regina said that?" Emma questioned after a second or two.

"Yep, I was as shocked as you are trust me."

"Where am I?" Emma looked around the cabin trying to work out where she was. She noticed the desk in one corner which was obviously where the chair Mary Margaret had been asleep in had come from. There were papers strewn haphazardly across the desk, a map of a land Emma didn't know on the wall behind it. There were lanterns on a couple of smaller tables on either side of the bed which hadn't been lit. Emma looked back to her left and saw two small portholes which had been covered in red fabric, this caused everything in the room to have a red tinge as the sunlight beamed through them. Emma found the room to be quite comfortable, especially the bed covered in its plush red coverlet with matching red pillows. At some point there had obviously been a woman involved in the decorating of the room.

"Hooks cabin," Mary Margaret said with a bright smile.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Emma asked her mom confused, the answer explained where she was and the opulence of the room but the smile was disarming.

"Well honey," Mary Margaret said as she moved to sit next to her daughter on the bed, she moved some pillows for comfort before continuing. "I think Hook likes you."

"Don't be stupid," was all Emma could think to say. She pushed her mom with her shoulder as she shook her head dismissively.

"Emma lets be honest he is good looking for a pirate. You are a beautiful young woman I can't blame him for finding you attractive. However I would prefer not to have a pirate in the family."

"Because having the Evil Queen, Prince Charming, Snow White, Rumplestiltskin and the Saviour in one family is clearly enough fairy taleness and adding Captain Hook would just take us over that limit."

"Exactly," Snow said with a smile.

"You are so strange at times," Emma shook her head bemusedly.

"At least you know where you get it from."

"Hey now, I get many things from you my love of cinnamon in hot chocolate, which by the way I still find strange because that isn't a genetic thing. Anyway I get that, my ability to tell if someone is lying and my chin. However I do not get the weirdness from you, because I am not weird." Emma pointed to herself as she said the final words.

"Stubborn, you forgot stubborn."

"I am not stubborn." Mary Margaret watched her daughter cross her arms over her chest as she spoke.

"Point proven." She smirked at Emma before continuing. "What did you mean that you get your ability to tell if someone is lying from me?" She turned her head inquisitively towards her daughter.

"I think it has something to do with people's inability to lie to you. Something about you makes people want to tell you the truth and trust me its annoying at times." Emma explained, she would never admit it to anyone but she was enjoying spending time with her mom she just wished her son was here as well. Her face must have betrayed her thoughts because Mary Margaret smiled sadly and spoke softly.

"We will find him Emma."

"How do you know?"

"Because its what we do, our family always finds each other." Mary Margaret shrugged.

"I just want to hold him and tell him I love him." Emma leaned her head on her mom's shoulder and smiled slightly as her mom rested her own on top. Emma could not remember ever feeling this unconditionally loved, not even with Neal. She knew that Neal loved her but it was different with her dad and more so with her mom.

"He knows Em, if he knows you then he knows. We'll find him and we'll all be together as one big happy family."

"You are amazing you know that."

"It's the Snow White thing, I'm always looking for that silver lining in life."

"I'm glad you are my mom. I told Jefferson as much when he kidnapped us, but now I know the truth I find I really am." Emma lifted her head off her mom's shoulder and looked her in the eye as she spoke.

"I'm proud of you Emma. Even in my wildest dreams I never thought my daughter would grow up to be as kind, honest and strong as you." Emma could detect no lie in Mary Margaret's face, voice or eyes and smiled brightly at her.

"Right lets get back up top and find my son!" Emma all but jumped off the bed, immediately regretting the decision to move so fast when her head started spinning. "Woah, lets move a little bit slower."

"Ok," Mary Margaret said as if it had been her idea to move so fast. "Just be careful Emma, oh and honey."

"Yeah," Emma stood by the door out of the cabin and waited for Snow to catch up.

"Could you talk to your father at some point. I know its awkward between you two but I would love for you two to be as close as we are someday. Knowing Charming like I do he won't come to you because he won't want to crowd you, I think you need to make the first move towards him."

"What can we talk about?" The two women walked out of the cabin and headed back up towards the deck together.

"Well you are both dragon slayers," Mary Margaret shrugged from beside her daughter.

"That is something I suppose." Emma contemplated as they walked out into the sunlight.

"Hello there Swan, it's nice to see you up and about. Next time I'll carry you to my room myself." Hook greeted with a smirk and a wink.

"You really are disgusting at times," Emma turned away from Hook and walked down to the main deck followed by her mother.

"I told you," the brunette whispered in the blonde's ear as they approached her father.

"Are you feeling better now?" David asked as they reached him.

"Yeah, thanks for carrying me to the room," Emma smiled shyly at him.

"Well I'm gonna go..." Mary Margaret just pointed over her shoulder and walked away even though she had nowhere to go and nothing to do. The father and daughter just stood and watched her lean against the railing on the other side of the ship as she looked out towards the island they were heading towards.

"That was subtle," Emma said quietly as she turned her back to the ship and looked out towards the sea.

"Your mother never was very subtle." David mimicked his daughters position. "Are you sure you are feeling better?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Emma played with the cuff of her jacket as she stared out across the sea not knowing what to say. She looked across at David slyly and saw that he looked as nervous as she felt. "I never knew it would be so awkward having my parents in my life." She said quietly.

"I never knew I would feel so awkward around my daughter," David sighed. "We have nothing in common."

"Well I hear you have slain a dragon," Emma saw the movement of David's head as he nodded his assent.

"And placed a golden egg containing a potion made of mine and your mother's hairs in another."

"You placed the potion in the dragon that I had to fight to get back?" Emma turned to her father with a look of amazement on her face.

"Yeah, Maleficent."

"What?"

"The dragon's name, Maleficent."

"As in Sleeping Beauty?"

"What?" It was David's turn to be confused now, Emma smiled finally knowing something about the Enchanted Forest that her father didn't.

"A princess who pricked her finger on a poisoned spinning wheel. Maleficent was the witch who poisoned it, Sleeping Curse." Emma shook her head as she said the words, it still amazed her that everyone in the Enchanted Forest apparently loved a good sleeping curse. "She is actually called Aurora and mom and I met her in the Enchanted Forest."

"So she would be the Aurora Henry met in the Netherworld?" David was trying to make sense of the story.

"Yep..." Emma trailed off as she struggled for anything else to say. "This is just strange, its easy with mom we were friends before." She said eventually sighing heavily as the words came out. Emma turned away from her father and gripped the edge of the ship with such strength that her knuckles began to turn white.

"I get it trust me. I know that a lot of how you feel about me comes from what happened before the curse broke."

"Oh..." Emma bit her lip she had hoped she had managed to hide the disdain she had previously felt towards David better than she obviously had. "I'm sorry if it came across that I hated you."

"Em, you had every right to." David turned and leant his hip against the ship so that he was facing his daughter as he spoke. "I broke your best friends heart. I don't like what I did to her then Emma but I can't change the past. You have to know that now I would never do anything to hurt her. You, Snow and Henry are my life and without one of you I feel incomplete." Emma watched her fathers face as he spoke, she saw so many emotions swirling in his eyes love, anger, sorrow.

"If mom can forgive you for the past then I suppose I can as well, but I don't think I can ever forget what you did. I know I will never forget the look she had on her face after you spoke to her that day in the Sheriff's office; I can never forget the sorrow that settled in my heart as I watched her cry over you." Emma knew she was being hard on her dad but she needed him to understand the full extent of his actions. There was one thing she wouldn't admit though, at least not out loud, she would never admit that she wanted her father to love her, that she wanted him to hug her and tell her everything would be alright. That was just not going to happen...well yet anyway.

"I suppose I can't expect more than that." David looked deflated as he spoke. "I just want a chance to be your father and to know you like your mother does." He turned his body back so that he was facing the sea and hoped that Emma hadn't caught the tears that had started to fill his eyes as he had spoken. He blinked a few times to try and clear his eyes.

"It's not that easy," Emma pushed away from the railing and paced away from her father before returning to her position. "You are my father so I guess I love you," she turned and saw the small smile on his face as he continued to look out at the sea. "I want to be close to you, I want to know everything that wasn't in Henry's book. I want you to be proud of me, I want you to forgive every terrible thing I have done in my life but more than that I just want you to love me. I can't believe I just said all that!" Emma buried her face in her hands to hide the shame she felt at admitting something she had promised herself she wouldn't yet.

"Oh Emma, honey," David placed his hands on Emma's shoulders and turned her so that they were facing each other. He gently pulled her hands away from her face and blue met blue as her hands fell to her sides. "I do love you. I have loved you from the moment Snow found out she was pregnant. I never want you to doubt that and as for being proud of you I already am, you are the strongest woman I know. I don't know what you have been through and I hope one day you can tell me but I will never ever believe you have done anything terrible."

"Trust me I have done terrible things." Emma continued to meet her father's gaze as she spoke so that he would know she was being honest. "One day I may even tell you, because lets be honest I can't tell mom she has me on some kind of pedestal." David laughed loudly and glanced over at his wife, he saw her spin her head quickly but he knew she was watching them.

"She just loves you."

"Yeah but its hard trying not to fall off when you are that high up."

"You kind of have her on a pedestal as well though," David shrugged, at Emma's confused look he continued. "She's your mother and your best friend so in your eyes she will never do anything wrong. It's not a bad thing all girls idolise their mothers, I just thought I would let you know you have done the same to her. You two are more alike than you care to admit."

"Yeah well she's Snow White there's no pedestal high enough for her. I'm sorry," Emma mumbled.

"For what?" David wrinkled his brow as he asked the question confusion shining in his eyes.

"For everything, I know this isn't how you imagined having your daughter in your life-"

"I'll have you anyway I can." Charming cut Emma off before she could finish. "Just so you know after we find Henry I will help you find Neal." Emma stood shocked for a second before all but throwing herself at Charming and hugging him tightly. He was bemused for a second before he returned the hug knowing it would probably be awhile before he received another one.

"Thank you," Emma whispered in his ear.

"Anytime, anything." He responded before letting his daughter go. "I mean it Emma, I will help you with anything, anytime. I love you absolutely and unconditionally, nothing will ever change that so never doubt it."

"I love you too. Mom thinks that Hook likes me." Emma said bluntly, abruptly changing the subject and lightening the mood slightly, she watched David stare over her head at the captain. He narrowed his eyes and Emma knew Hook was watching them, when his gaze returned to her she knew Hook was looking elsewhere.

"Oh he definitely likes you. It is the only explanation for everything he has done, he has spent hundreds of years being a selfish pirate and suddenly he wants to be someone else. That is definitely down to you. Things really do change around you Emma but he isn't good enough for you." David smiled and winked at his daughter with the last statement. Emma felt her heart leap; without knowing it she had waited a lifetime to hear her father say those words. Now that he had, even if they were the same age, she was thrilled that he disapproved of at least one man in her life.

"Shall we go join mom?" Emma asked, David nodded and taking a chance he pulled Emma into his side as they turned to walk across the ship. Father and daughter both smiled as their arms slid around shoulder and waist respectively. It was less awkward now but David knew Emma would never forget what had happened while he was cursed, he could only hope that with time he could erase those thoughts and replace them with memories of the man he truly was. David was a coward but Prince Charming was anything but and he would prove himself worthy of Emma's love and more importantly her respect and forgiveness.


End file.
